Pubdate: Mon, 27 May 2013
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Thandi Fletcher

SENIORS FINDING RELIEF IN POT

Before Cherie Scott goes to sleep every night, the 86-year-old has a
sweet bedtime snack: a marijuana cookie.

With her chic bob hairstyle and tweed blazer, Scott - who prefers to
be addressed as "Mrs. Scott" - doesn't exactly fit the stoner
stereotype. Admittedly, before she tried it, she was totally against
the drug.

"I thought the whole system, it was evil and addictive and you were a
little cuckoo with it," the Burnaby senior told The Province.

But when she found herself in a dire situation, unable to sleep after
her husband died of lung cancer in 1980, Scott said she was desperate
for relief. Fearing she would become addicted to sleeping pills,
Scott's son suggested she try marijuana.

Mitch D'Kugener, who has a doctor's prescription, smoked pot to
alleviate symptoms of his attention deficit disorder and arthritis
pain, and he thought it might also help his mom.

"Now she's having the best sleep that she's had in the last 30 years,"
he said. "Her quality of life has improved."

A Growing Trend

Scott is part of a growing trend of seniors starting to use medical
marijuana to find relief from illnesses that are often age-related,
such as arthritis and dementia. Many are unlikely to try marijuana on
their own, but are introduced to the idea by their children or younger
relatives.

"A lot of it is the older generation is just less aware," said Dana
Larsen, director of the Vancouver Dispensary Society. "A lot of the
medical benefits of cannabis have really just been explored in the
last few years, and the information is just getting out there."

As most marijuana research has looked at people who smoke the drug for
recreational reasons, scientific evidence on the medical benefits is
sparse. But research has found marijuana can be helpful in treating
nausea in chemotherapy patients as well as nerve pain, and may
stimulate appetite in people with AIDS, according to a 1999 review
from the Institute of Medicine, a prestigious U.S. health advisory
group.

Larsen, a longtime pot-legalization activist who founded the B.C.
Marijuana Party, said some seniors who visit the dispensary tried
marijuana in their youth, but many are first-time users.

According to Larsen, marijuana seems to help seniors in a way that
pharmaceutical drugs don't. Some even stop taking medication
previously prescribed to them once they try the substance, he said.

"A lot of what we do is teaching people how to use it properly and how
to consume it in the right way," Larsen said.

Vancouver's Med Pot Now dispensary, one of about 30 in the city, has
seen a "huge leap" in younger patients bringing in their parents and
grandparents, as well as non-patients calling to get their older
relatives signed up, according to the dispensary's manager Jordana
Casey.

Legal Grey Area

Medical marijuana dispensaries operate in a legal grey area. The
courts have ruled that Canadians have a constitutional right to use
marijuana for medical reasons. Health Canada started growing marijuana
to satisfy this right.

But when the federal agency was unable to meet the increasing demand
of patients - who also were unhappy with what they considered to be a
low-quality product - compassion clubs and dispensaries emerged.

For the most part, Vancouver police tolerate the dispensaries unless
they receive a complaint, said Larsen.

On a Thursday morning at the Medical Cannabis Dispensary in
Vancouver's West End, Mrs. Scott shook her head in disbelief as her
son put a flame to a pipe full of cannabis resin, and took a long,
slow inhalation.

"With a puff like that, I'd be in Never Never Land," she said with a
chuckle.

Unlike her son, however, Scott doesn't enjoy getting high and consumes
only a small amount. "I'm not sitting there toking away until I'm
stoned," she said. "I like my brain working very well."

Her daily routine involves nibbling on a marijuana cookie or having
one or two tokes during the day. She said if she wakes up during the
night, one light toke helps lull her back to sleep. As she grows
older, Scott said, she increasingly suffers from nausea and stomach
problems, which marijuana also helps to soothe.

Different Tokes For Different Folks

Contrary to popular belief, getting high is not an enjoyable aspect
for many people using medical marijuana, said Larsen. Different
strains of marijuana can make a difference, he said. While the indica
strain is more likely to help with pain and sleeping problems, and can
provide users with a sense of calm, the sativa strain infuses a person
with energy and stimulates appetite.

Marijuana doesn't need to be smoked. The substance can be ingested in
capsule form, as a tincture with drops placed under the tongue, in the
form of baked goods or as a cream or ointment for arthritis.

"Some people enjoy the high, and for some people the high is an
unwanted side-effect that they don't have to experience," said Larsen.
"You want to find the right variety to use in the right situation."

Offering help to patients also often brings relief to their families,
said Dori Dempster, manager of the Westside dispensary.

"It's not just about filling people's bags so they can smoke all the
joints that they want," she said. "It's about bringing relief to
people in the way that it's needed."

One patient, Dempster recalled, who was suffering from dementia and
was becoming increasingly agitated, found relief after trying
marijuana in the form of food products, called "edibles." The man's
family contacted the dispensary when his dementia was causing him to
behave in a way that - if he was in his normal frame of mind - he
wouldn't have thought was dignified. But with edibles, Dempster said,
the man's entire demeanour changed.

"His anger issues went away and he was able to sleep better," she
said. "He was just very, very happy."

Medical Marijuana Across Canada

Across Canada, B.C. has the highest number of licensed medical
marijuana users.

According to December 2012 figures from Health Canada, 13,362 people
can possess medical marijuana in this province, while 9,369 people are
licensed to grow it for their own medicinal use. The numbers don't
include the many patients who choose to bypass Health Canada's
licensing program and go straight to a dispensary.

People who are licensed to possess marijuana may legally buy the
substance from Health Canada's growers. Buying marijuana from a
dispensary is illegal for all patients, regardless of whether they
have a licence. A licence only offers protection from being charged
with possession if a person is found with marijuana by a police
officer, Larsen said.

"Once they've got our marijuana in their hands, if they're allowed to
possess it from Health Canada, then they're allowed to possess our
marijuana, too," he said.

Larsen said many patients choose the faster, and more confidential,
route of buying marijuana from a dispensary instead of from Health
Canada, which can take several weeks.

"A lot of folks just don't like being on a government list of
marijuana people," he said. "They're afraid that it might come back at
them in some way."
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